OUAGADOUGOU,
Burkina Faso
At least 32 defense volunteers and 10 soldiers have died in suspected jihadist attacks in insurgency-hit northern Burkina Faso, officials said on Sunday.
A detachment of soldiers and the civilian volunteers "was the target of an attack by unidentified armed men on Saturday... at about 4:00 pm," near Aorema village, the Ouahigouya governorate said in a statement.
The army said the death toll was 40 -- eight soldiers and 32 defence
volunteers, adding that "at least 50 terrorists" were
"neutralised" in the counter-attack, including a number killed in air
strikes.
On Sunday, there was
"another attack targeting the military detachment of Kongoussi (Bam
province, North Central region)", according to the same source, who
reported "two soldiers" killed and "about 20 terrorists neutralised".
The governorate of the
northern region said that 33 people wounded in the first attack were "in
stable condition" and currently being taken care of in the regional
capital.
According to a security source
contacted by AFP, the detachment targeted by Saturday's attack was charged with
ensuring "the security of the Ouahigouya airfield that was targeted".
"Heavy fighting did
indeed take place yesterday (Saturday) night" for "almost two
hours," said a local.
He also claimed that
"several air strikes targeted positions of suspected jihadists" on
Friday.
Burkina Faso's military junta
had declared Thursday a "general mobilisation" to give the state
"all necessary means" to combat a string of bloody attacks blamed on
jihadists affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.
Details of the plan were not
disclosed, though a security source told AFP it would include "a state of
emergency for the affected territories".
Authorities also issued an
"advisory" that gives the president "the right to requisition
people, goods and services and the right to restrain certain civil
liberties", according to another security source.
On Tuesday, the defence
minister called for current and retired military personnel to hand in unused
uniforms to help outfit army soldiers.
Last week, 44 civilians were
reported killed by "armed terrorist groups" in two villages in the
northeast, near the Niger border.
It was one of the deadliest
attacks against civilians since Captain Ibrahim Traore came to power last
September, after 51 soldiers were killed in February at Deou, in the far north.
The government had already
announced the same month a plan to recruit 5,000 more soldiers to battle the
insurgency that has gripped one of the world's poorest countries since 2015.
Traore, Burkina's transitional
president, has declared a goal of recapturing the 40 percent of the country's
territory which is controlled by jihadists.
The violence has left more
than 10,000 people dead, according to non-governmental aid groups, and
displaced two million people from their homes. - AFP
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